PowerSwitch

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64832129

This report suggests a significant risk of attacks on electrical infrastructure, not by foreign powers but by home grown political extremists. Not of direct relevance to the UK but should be worrying for TPTB in America. And if any such attacks succeed, they might encourage similar events elsewhere.

And Americans justify widespread gun ownership by saying that they have to protect themselves against the government!! Large numbers of people, perhaps a large proportion, in the country is nuts!

kenneal - lagger wrote: ↑10 Mar 2023, 22:42 And Americans justify widespread gun ownership by saying that they have to protect themselves against the government!!

Some say that anyway, but pulling quotes from the wackos is no different than pretending all Brits are represented by Mark Collett.

All the ones I've ever met are more interested in making sure that possible perpetrators of crime against our persons are perforated promptly upon demonstrating a passionate intent to harm.

kenneal-lagger wrote: Large numbers of people, perhaps a large proportion, in the country is nuts!

Well, with exceptional comes pluses and minuses. Rather than being American we could be just become...impotent? Find a King to fawn over, disarm our people so the criminals can have their way with the citizenry, allow our oil and gas production to implode rather than, for example, becoming the world's largest producer of oil and gas, we could let 90% of our economy collapse to become the size of the UKs, sink all our nuke subs to make a tiny little fleet, and be...meek...? Somehow, I'm guessing we'll just stay..American, nuts or not.

It certainly is a wake up call, along with the Russian attacks on Ukraine electrical infrastructure, for authorities to understand how the power system can be made less vulnerable to attacks. I would put my money on Western power infrastructure being targeted by cyber attacks from Russia and China, initially at least, rather than actual attacks but it is possible that these people in the US are being manipulated by foreign players and being used as useful idiots for their greater ends.

I had never heard of accelerationism before reading this - another barking mad philosophy for me to have to read up on. Eco-fascism on the other hand sounds interesting. Perhaps national ecologism might become the newest political fad.

I would suggest the power system be changed to form something more like a large distribution system with smaller and larger numbers of transformers/substations, battery or smaller pumped hydro storage or run-of-river hydro where possible, and lower voltage and more numerous power lines and something of a mesh system rather than the linear system that relies on a small number of high voltage high wattage conductors that is currently being pushed. in a word - microgrids.